Cheong Wa Dae pushes back on political reading of PM's airport send-off for Lee

Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday drew a line against political interpretations of Prime Minister Kim Min-seok's appearance at President Lee Jae Myung's airport send-off for his European tour, saying it would be "inappropriate to read political meaning" into the occasion — particularly given the conspicuous absence of Democratic Party of Korea leader Jung Chung-rae.

The episode sparked a wave of speculation in political circles. Observers noted that Jung's absence from Tuesday's farewell may have reflected a sense of responsibility he felt over the results of the June 3 local elections. Others suggested that because Jung and Kim are rivals in the race for the next party leadership, Lee's decision to have the prime minister present — and not the party leader — amounted to a quiet endorsement of a specific candidate.

As the political back-and-forth intensified, the presidential office moved again to tamp down the controversy.

Cheong Wa Dae said the number of people at the send-off had been kept to a minimum "after comprehensively considering domestic and international conditions, including the prolonged Middle East war and the state of the National Election Commission's operations." It added that the prime minister attended in order "to convey cabinet-level work instructions and requests stemming from the president's extended overseas schedule."

The controversy deepened after Lee Ji-eun, the Democratic Party's former spokesperson, said on a pro-government YouTube broadcast on Monday that watching the scene reminded her of former President Yoon Suk Yeol's practice of handpicking party leaders. "When we think about Yoon Suk Yeol — how he picked someone to be party leader and got so much grief for it — I couldn't help wondering: is the president doing the same thing now?" she said. "I thought, surely not."

Lee Ji-eun stepped down from her spokesperson role Wednesday, issuing a statement saying she would "set down this heavy burden, return as an ordinary party member, and learn and reflect more deeply." In the statement, she explained: "Not long ago I said on air that 'our president is different from Yoon Suk Yeol,' but it seems that what listeners heard was 'our president is just like Yoon Suk Yeol.'"

She said she had been expressing her firm conviction that the kind of politics the party had so sharply criticized — "handpicking a party leader" or "backroom appointments" — could never happen under the current administration. "What I meant was: 'We criticized Yoon Suk Yeol so harshly for that — surely our president wouldn't do the same thing. Surely not,'" she said.

She also rebuffed suggestions that Lee was backing a specific candidate for party leader, arguing that framing "the president's broad embrace and sincerity" as "picking a particular person" was a partisan distortion. "That kind of claim is what actually puts the president in danger," she said.